Car jerking when accelerating at low speeds

Car jerking when accelerating at low speeds

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Discussion

zzy25

Original Poster:

4 posts

25 months

Monday 24th October 2022
quotequote all
Hi,
I've got an old peugeot 206 that has recently had its mot, it needed a fair amount doing and I'm trying to decide whether to keep it or not. The thing is there are a couple of other things that probably wouldn't be picked up on the mot that I'm wondering whether they'd need sorting in the near future and if so how expensive they'd be. (I'm clueless about this kind of thing sorry!)
The main one is something it's done occasionally till now, usually only after going down a steep hill, which is when I'm accelerating it kind of feels like all its power stops temporarily and the car slows down, then after a few seconds it suddenly jerks and goes back to normal speed again. The cars been sat for about a week and in the last few days I've quickly driven it a couple of times, both times during the first five minutes it's done this pretty badly a lot to the point I nearly thought the car would break down completely, then been fine after that. I don't know if its just worse because I haven't been using the car but it was actually worse the second time I took it out this week when I thought it might have improved. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to the sort of thing that might be causing it or if it would get worse? It only happens in the lower gears.
The other thing is that a few times in the last few months the airbag warning light has come on but then gone back off again, don't know if its a problem with the light or with the actual airbags, its only happened very rarely!
Thanks for any help smile

GreenV8S

30,487 posts

291 months

Monday 24th October 2022
quotequote all
zzy25 said:
Hi,
don't know if its a problem with the light or with the actual airbags
From your point of view there is no difference. The lamp is coming on because the car has detected a problem. The problem will need to be tracked down and fixed.

QJumper

2,709 posts

33 months

Monday 24th October 2022
quotequote all
I had similar a few years ago and, after cleaning the throttle body and mass air flow sensor, all was ok again.

No idea if these are the cause of your problems, but they're cheap and easy to do, so possibly worth a try.

zzy25

Original Poster:

4 posts

25 months

Monday 24th October 2022
quotequote all
GreenV8S said:
From your point of view there is no difference. The lamp is coming on because the car has detected a problem. The problem will need to be tracked down and fixed.
Fair point! I've been leaving it as it hasn't happened for a while but will have to sort it out

zzy25

Original Poster:

4 posts

25 months

Monday 24th October 2022
quotequote all
QJumper said:
I had similar a few years ago and, after cleaning the throttle body and mass air flow sensor, all was ok again.

No idea if these are the cause of your problems, but they're cheap and easy to do, so possibly worth a try.
Thanks 🙂 I'll try looking into that

ReverendCounter

6,087 posts

183 months

Monday 24th October 2022
quotequote all
Re: the airbag lights, see if there's wiring+connectors under the seats, make sure they're properly together. I hit a pothole once, airbag light came on and the connector had loosened. Popped them back together and no issues after that.

Re: the cutting out, does it ever happen under hard braking, or accelerating up a hill? If so, see if you can get into the fuel tank under the rear seats. There's a pickup filter on the end of the fuel pump. If it falls off it can temporarily stop the pump from slurping the fuel up properly under certain conditions, leading to a temporary cut out.

Edited by ReverendCounter on Monday 24th October 23:14

zzy25

Original Poster:

4 posts

25 months

Monday 24th October 2022
quotequote all
ReverendCounter said:
Re: the airbag lights, see if there's wiring+connectors under the seats, make sure they're properly together. I hit a pothole once, airbag light came on and the connector had loosened. Popped them back together and no issues after that.

Re: the cutting out, does it ever happen under hard braking, or accelerating up a hill? If so, see if you can get into the fuel tank under the rear seats. There's a pickup filter on the end of the fuel pump. If it falls off it can temporarily stop the pump from slurping the fuel up properly under certain conditions, leading to a temporary cut out.

Edited by ReverendCounter on Monday 24th October 23:14
Thanks, I'll try those! It does seem to happen more often when going uphill actually so I'll try and look at the fuel tank smile